Wellington Radio ZLW

Wellington Radio ZLW opened on 26 July 1911 as New Zealand’s first wireless telegraph station. It closed after 82 years on 30 September 1993.

In 1909 an Australasian Telegraph Conference was held in Melbourne and this led to a New Zealand Government decision to establish marine radio coast stations in the capital, Wellington, and at Auckland (ZLD) and the Chatham Islands (ZLC).

The first station, a 2.5 kilowatt ‘spark’ transmitter, opened on 26 July 1911 and operated from a tower at the General Post Office in Wellington.

Only three months later, in October 2011, the station was transferred to 301 metre high Mount Etako (also known as Mt Wakefield or Tinakori Hill and since 2009 officially known as Te Ahumairangi Hill) where it provided a wireless telegraph service to ships within a 600 mile radius.